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Support and personal development

We provide a wide network of support and personal development services for all our students.

Supervision and thesis advisory panel

All research students are assigned a principal supervisor.

You will also be given a thesis advisory panel, which will consist of your supervisor and two other members of academic staff. All panel members will be familiar with the research topic, but they might have different perspectives from your principal supervisor. This is a good way of collaborating with other academics, as well as getting a variety of views on your research topic.

Your progress will be monitored at panel meetings. The first meeting will take place after three months, and subsequent meetings will be every six months.

Student support

As a HYMS student, you are entitled to make direct contact with any of the student support services across HYMS and our parent Universities.

Personal development

As a research student at HYMS, you will meet regularly with your supervisor, as well as with your thesis advisory panel. These meetings are an important part of judging your progress and setting future goals.

We strongly support the Personal Development Planning scheme. This is defined by the Quality Assurance Agency as "a structured and supported process undertaken by an individual to reflect upon their own learning, performance and achievement, and to plan for their personal, educational and career development". In other words, this scheme can help you to:

improve your general skills in study and career management

become a more effective, independent and confident self-directed learner

understand how you learn and relate your learning to a wider context

specify your personal goals and evaluate your progress towards them

maintain a positive attitude to learning throughout your life

This scheme is not the same as the NHS's Continuing Professional Development scheme (and other similar schemes), but the two are complementary.